Digital+Nation

Digital Nation Chapters 1-2 I agree that technology and students are different now then they were even 10 years ago. I find it amazing that they cannot research what problems technology is doing to the brain because by the time the research is published, the technology will be obsolete. I feel like I may be farther behind others in technology. The first time I saw a smart board was when I started attending USF. For me personally, I think that if my husband were with me, I would only use the internet for school purposes and maybe a couple hours a week for leisure activities. However, since he is in Mexico and we use Skype, this is when I do the most multitasking, checking email, checking facebook, and trying to getting homework done. And maybe I am just kind of old fashioned but there are some days I wish I did not have a cell phone, it seems to be more of a distraction to me, than helpful.

Chapter 3 Students spent an average of 50 hours or more at PC bog Cafes playing games online in South Korea. Students have died from spending too much time on computer and forgetting to eat and drink. 3 year study on internet addiction is being conducted. 90% of children use the internet a day. 10-15% of the 90 % children are at high risk for becoming addicted. Some children in South Korea have had to go to Internet Rescue Camps. Internet changes from a thing one does, to the way one lives. In South Korean schools, they have signs in the hallway stating warnings about the internet and how to use it safely. Children in first and second grade have a internet safety song that they sing.

Chapter 4 Students use computers in their daily classrooms. Students need to be fluent in technology and communication in order to find a job in the future. In schools where technology is intergrated into the classroom violence __has decreased.__ Test scores in the technology integrated schools have increased. Student attendance has increased as well in technology immersed schools. A fear of technology is short attention spans. The students have so many other things and websites in front of them they could be doing instead of paying attention to the class or instructor. Firewalls have been set up to block access to certain things, although the students know how to get around the fire walls. On a daily basis the principal spents about 50% of his time monitoring the students computer usage.

Chapter 5 Students do not read books more than 200 pages. Writing skills are suffering because students are not reading as much as they used to. Students do not write in essay form, they write it paragraph per paragraph and later find out that they are not linked together. Learning might stay the same, but ways of teaching has changed. Video compared losing memory when oral discussion was lost due to writing. Go into the learning and teaching with open mind.

Chapter 6 People upload videos on the Digital Nation website. Lady would like to hear voices instead of just receiving emails. People who inhabit the net as if it were reality. Games give people powerful, vicarious lives. Games create an immersive world that you can step into. Many gamers never actually meet each other in person, but consider themselves friends. Americans like playing games but not as bad as South Korea. People who don't play games, do not understand the relationships between gamers. Average time spent on World of Warcraft is about 10 hours a week. 1/3 of female players have met have found romantic relationships online.

Chapter 7 Philip Rosedale is the creator of Second Life. Second Life is an immersive 3-D online universe where you can make an Avatar modeling yourself. When he created 2nd life he wanted to rewrite the interactions of human beings. Philip said he could solve alienation of old technology by using new technologies. IBM shifted interval meetings to virtual. Virtual world recaptures human connections lost in video and conference calls. Virtual reality such as 2nd Life changes how people communicate.

Chapter 8 At Stanford there is a Virtual Human Interaction Lab created to see what technology does to us. If it looks and feels real the brain says it is real even if it is occuring in virtual reality. Distinctions between real and virtual reality are becoming blurry. 50% of children who swam with whales in virtual reality, thought that they had gone to sea world and physically swam with the whales. The army is also using virtual reality as therapy for those suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. This way the person is able to talk throught their stress and can come down to being calm again. The military also uses technology to train. Pilots outside of Las Vegas are responsible for flying drones in Iraq and Afghanastan. These drones can strike with exceptional precision and without causing harm to American soldiers. The biggest problem for the pilots of drones is the physical detachment from a airplane. These planes can see up to 9 miles away from a site. One pilot said he likes to focus on God and when he does that, everything else in his life falls into place. Pilots of this unique unit also face Post Traumatic Stress disorders.

Chapter 9 The army close big recruit stations to open an Army Experience Center. Although they cannot recruit children under 17, these centers are open to children 13 and up. The life size simulators of helicopters and airplanes causes adrenaline rushes trying to encourage children to sign up. Protesters want the Centers shut down. The teenagers that go to these centers to play games, say they know the difference between reality and the virtual reality of the game. One stated that he knows the difference between reality and virtual. He would not go and sign up to do a tour because in reality it is much different than the games they play at the Centers. In NYC, there is a new school in which, children learn through playing games. Ciriculum is all found and met through games on a computer. If you cannot engage a child to wanting to learn something, there is a problem. Opposers to this school say that we must protect the type of conversations that are supposed to be in schools. Technology challenges us, it's not good or bad but powerful and complicated. Finding a balance in the new technology age will take some time. Students can use technology to make the world their own.